A life of contradictions

Performers Katja Gaudard, Yujin Jeong, Patric de Jesus das Neves Lindström, Kira Metzler, Kinga Anita Ötvös, Luana Rossetti, Axel Sichrovsky  Director Clemens Bechtel Choreography Maura Morales Set design Till Kuhnert Costumes Sabina Moncys Music/Audiowalk Production Michio Woirgardt Dramaturgy Annelie Mattheis Assistant Director Sarah Maree Design Assistant Emily Siedler

Clemens Bechtel has worked since 1995 as an independent director, and is most well known for his documentary work. He has directed productions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania and Denmark, as well as in Burundi, Mali and Malawi. His production Staatssicherheiten at the Hans Otto Theater Potsdam, in which 15 former prisoners relate their experiences of Stasi prisons, was awarded the Friedrich Luft prize in 2009. His other significant works include Hunger for Trade, which he produced at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg in 2015, for which theatre companies from four continents came together in a joint research network to produce eight plays about global food markets. He created a similar network in 2017, consisting of theatre companies from Romania, India, Burkina Faso and Germany, to address the issue of human trafficking. These productions were performed at the Theater Freiburg. In the past few years he has directed several productions in East Africa and Eastern Europe, as well as at the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Opera in Freiburg, and on the Humboldt Forum building site in 2018, where he developed Das Alte ist nicht mehr, a performance about Karl Liebknecht.

Katja Gaudard has been living and working in Berlin since 2019. Born in Basle, she was educated at the Humanistisches Gymnasium, studied classical dance at the Centre de Danse Rosella Hightower, and undertook further professional training in London and Paris; she appeared in her first professional role at the Luzerner Theater. Up until the birth of her daughter she worked as a dancer and actress in Basle, Zurich, Montreux, Lucerne, Lausanne and Dortmund, and later, after spending time with her daughter in India, in Aalen and Tübingen. From 2011 to 2019 she was a member of the ensemble at the Schauspiel Hannover, before joining the Berliner Volksbühne, where she worked from 2019 to July 2021. She is also an audio drama voice artist for SWR, and creates her own independent projects. In 2017, she formed a collective with musician and producer Lyhre, conducting interdisciplinary research.

Yujin Jeong is a Korean contemporary dancer and studied contemporary dance in SangMyoung University, Seoul and Copenhagen contemporary dance school as well. She has recently moved to Berlin since 2020 and has been working with various Choreographers as freelancer. She has worked for example with Erion Kruja for US – NOI, with Micaela Taylor for Liberation, Tomer Dahan for A weed struggling out of crack in cement, with  Kira Metzler for Werte Lotte, with Jin-Yeob Cha for Incheon Asian Games Olympics Opening performance / Gwangju Asiad Opening performance.

Till Kuhnert was born in Mannheim in 1970, trained as a structural draughtsman in Zurich from 1986 to 1990, followed by architectural studies at the HTL in Winterthur from 1990 to 1992. From 1995 to 1998, he worked as an assistant stage and costume designer at the Schauspiel Bonn and the Bremer Theater. It was there that he met Johann Kresnik, on whose productions of Fidelio, Goya, Intolleranza, Nabucco and Picasso he worked as stage designer. Since 1998 he has worked as a freelance stage-, costume- and interior designer and lives in Berlin. During this time, he has regularly worked with a variety of directors and choreographers in national and international theatre companies. He has worked with Clemens Bechtel for many years, including at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Staatstheater Dresden, the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Nanzikambe Theatre in Blantyre, Malawi and in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Patric de Jesus das Neves Lindström is a swedish/brazilian Berlin based freelance artist. His youth was influenced by capoeria angola, athletics, urban dance styles and painting. He trained with local dance schools before realising he wanted to pursue performing arts as a professional. In California he met Christian Rodrigo whom awakend his studies of physical theatre. As an actor he worked with Pernilla August, Mikkel Nørgaard, Jeanette Nordahl among others. He trained at Centro Coreográfico da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Added ballet training in 2013 at Copenhagen Contemporary Dance School and continued his dance studies in Essen at Folkwang University of the Arts. During his studies Patric was a San Diego Dance Theater scholarship recipient and performed as a guest in Southern California and Mexico. In 2018 he moved to Berlin to join the Sita Ostheimer Company. Recently he was an artist-in-residence at „Site Stockholm“ and has been collaborating with companies in Greece and Belgium.

Kira Metzler was born in 1989, and lives in Berlin, working as an independent dance teacher, dancer and choreographer. She completed her Foundation degree in Dance Instruction from the ISTD in the UK, and went on to study contemporary dance in the Netherlands. She made her debut performance with the Konzert Theater Bern dance company, and has worked with various artists including Nanine Linning, Estefania Miranda, Winston A. Arnold and Marcel Leemann. Since completing her Bachelor of Arts degree, she has worked freelance in Berlin, and also often appears on the dance scene of her home town of Bremerhaven. She has choreographed various productions, including krux, Werte Lotte, Frantic Sensibility, TETRA – Oneironaut, and Be_wegt.

Sabina Moncys grew up in Paris and studied stage and costume design, first at the Ateliers Beaux Arts in Paris, and later at the Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart with Jürgen Rose. She has worked since 2004 as a stage and costume designer for stage, opera and dance productions. She has worked with Thomas Krupa for many years at the LTT Tübingen, the Grillo Theater Essen and the Theater Freiburg. She has also developed stage plays and projects with director Jarg Pataki in Freiburg. She has worked for many years with choreographer and director Teresa Rotemberg, including at theatres in Aachen, Freiburg, Augsburg and Bregenz. She has also worked alongside Clemens Bechtel, in Tübingen, for the Oper Köln, and for the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. Her sets have also been seen at venues such as the Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Schlosstheater Celle, the HAU, the Ballhaus Ost, the Ballhaus Naunynstrasse in Berlin, in Madrid, Strasbourg and the Tenerife Opera House. From 2008 to 2016, she taught costume design, and later stage design, at the School of Theatre in Tenerife, Gran Canaria (EAC).

Maura Morales trained in classical ballet, modern dance, choreography, acting and folkloric dance at the Camagüey National Art College in Cuba. She has given solo performances at various state theatres in Cuba, Germany and Switzerland and since 2008 has been a regular guest at renowned international dance festivals as a freelance dancer and choreographer. She has been awarded a number of prizes, including second prize for choreography at the 11th International Solo Dance Theatre Festival in Stuttgart in 2008, the audience award for the best solo at the Masdanza Festival for Contemporary Dance in the Canary Islands, followed by first prize at the International Dance Competition Hanover 2010 for the duo Suits together with Felix Landerer. In 2013, she was awarded the prestigious Kurt Jooss Prize, as well as the jury prize for best dance performance, for her dance piece Wunschkonzert at the international dance fair in Huesca, Spain. In 2014 she was presented with the city of Düsseldorf’s Award for the Performing Arts. She was awarded the DURI Prize at the ACT international dance festival in Bilbao, Spain in 2015. Since 2010, together with composer Michio Woirgardt, Maura has directed her own dance company, the ‘Cooperativa Maura Morales’, for which she has since created a large number of full-length pieces and with which she regularly tours throughout Europe, Asia and South America. She is also a sought-after guest choreographer and has created full-length commissioned works for numerous theatres including the state and municipal theatres of the Ballett Vorpommern, Ballett Magdeburg, Endedans Cuba, as well as for the Provincial Dances Theatre, Russia and for Theater Münster.

Kinga Ötvös is a multidisciplinary artist active in different domains like music, theatre and performance art. As an actor she was a member of the Hungarian State Theater of Cluj-Napoca, collaborated with Látókép Ensemble and Horváth Csaba Company in Budapest. Kinga recently released her album Fluid Oratorio and was part of Athens Biennale as a live sound designer. Kinga is one of the founders of „Interfonic“ Postnational Theater. The wide collection of her backgrounds translates in an arsenal of kaleidoscopic materials, bringing unexpectedness to her artistic language.

Luana Rossetti was born 1986 in Mailand. Luana is an Italian professional dancer, choreographer, docent and author. After ArtEZ danceacademie, Luana dances with several companies and choreographers as N/W Tanzcompagnie Oldenburg, Skånes Danstheater, Jan Fabre, Constanza Macras, Opera de ballet de Tunis, etc. Since 2013 Luana is active in Berlin by creating independent, socio-political dance-theatre projects; she received production funding from the Berlin Senate, the Cultural Ministry of Denmark, MiBACT Italy and Bangkok. Luana teaches internationally in companies and universities.

Axel Sichrovsky was born in Austria, and graduated in theatre studies from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig. He has played at theatres including the Schauspiel Frankfurt, Staatstheater Kassel, Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, the Theater Heidelberg and the Schauspielhaus Wien. He has worked in cinema with Wim Wenders, Roland Emmerich, Leander Haußmann and Wolfgang Peterson. He recently appeared in Marie Kreutzer’s film Der Boden unter den Füßen, which was presented as a competition entry at the Berlinale 2019. Axel Sichrovsky also works as a director. He directed Der Kick by Andres Veiel, Helden wie wir by Thomas Brussig, Quartett by Heiner Müller and Das Interview by Theo von Gogh at the Theater Dessau, Jelinek’s Wut and 4.48 Psychose by Sarah Kane at the Landestheater Coburg, as well as David Mamet’s Oleanna at the Staatstheater Augsburg. He also developed a version of Oleanna for VR/360-degree headsets.

Michio Woirgardt is currently one of the most sought-after composers and live musicians in the field of ballet and contemporary dance. He studied guitar at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien and at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst Saar. His compositional approach consists of the fusion of musical parameters that at first sight appear to be completely contradictory. In recent years, Michio Woirgardt has created a very personal style, which appeals to ballet company choreographers at state theatres as well as contemporary companies on the independent scene. He has composed scores for state and municipal theatres, including the ballet companies of the Staatstheater Darmstadt, the Saarländisches Staatstheater, the Landestheater Linz, and the Theater Hagen, the Theater für Niedersachsen, the Tanzcompagnie Landesbühnen Sachsen, Ballett Vorpommern, Ballett Magdeburg, Tanztheater Münster, and Theater Osnabrück, as well as for independent companies and choreographers such as DDC (Donlon Dance Collective), Cooperativa Maura Morales, Landerer & Company in Hanover, Sebastian Weber Dance Company, Minako Seki and Yumiko Yoshioka in Berlin, Company Idem in Switzerland, Felix Bürkle-Starting Point in Düsseldorf, and Leonor Leal in Seville. In 2010, together with choreographer Maura Morales, he founded the contemporary dance company ‘Cooperativa Maura Morales’, with whom he has since produced numerous stage plays, and regularly gives guest performances throughout Europe, Asia and South America.